Catalan President Pere Aragonès reiterates that the Generalitat elections will take place “when they come”. That is, in February 2025. The statement issued this Monday is intended to dispel speculation about the possibility that Esquerra is interested in a push in the elections to catch Junts off guard – it has not yet been defined who his candidate will be – and in order not to lose any more distance to Salvador Illa. The polls show that the socialist leader is the favorite. If the president's prediction comes true, Catalans will go to the polls after delicate months, because the drought emergency will make it necessary to activate the emergency phase shortly and impose water restrictions, a complicated administrative task for the government given the weak majority that Esquerra Republicana has 33 out of 135 deputies in parliament. However, the head of the regional executive reiterates his determination to complete his mandate. He claims he will be the first president in 14 years to complete the entire four-year term since socialist José Montilla did so in 2010 when he led the second tripartite party. He was followed by Artur Mas, Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra.
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Aragonès also assures that the government will be able to find the necessary partners to approve the third budget in a row. “I think we will have budgets, of course,” replied the President this Monday on Catalunya Ràdio when asked how the already outdated negotiations on the Generalitat's annual accounts for 2024 are developing. “Despite the fact that we are told that we do not have a majority in parliament, every year we have approved budgets,” Aragonès boasted. Those for 2023 were validated in March.
“In my opinion, it would be positive to be able to complete an eight-year presidential cycle,” explains the president. We'll see what comes next. This Saturday, Aragonès received a mandate from the Esquerra leadership to take the lead in the next elections, but indicated that there was a plan to hand the task to Oriol Junqueras. He will write “glorious pages” in the history of Catalonia, said Aragonès, referring to the president of the ERC. Junqueras is waiting for the amnesty law to come into force so that the disqualification sentence that accompanied his 13-year prison sentence for organizing the illegal referendum of October 1, 2017 can be lifted.
Esquerra says they set no limits when it comes to contacts with other parties and investigate complicities with both junts and the PSC. “If you want to be a governing party, you talk to everyone,” says ERC spokeswoman Raquel Sans. Aragonès expressed optimism about the approval of the budget plans and the possibility that the mandate could be exhausted, at a time when talks on a government pact between the PSC, Esquerra and the lower house have gained momentum in Barcelona City Hall. After weeks of seeking rapprochement with Junts and Xavier Trias, Mayor Jaume Collboni has intensified contacts with the Republicans and the formation led by Ada Colau. In an interview with SER's Here Catalunya program on Monday, the former mayor said that “a progressive government in Barcelona is 100% likely.” Trias has described Collboni's “change of will” in the search for partners as a “serious mistake”.
For his part, Esquerra believes that the good predisposition to form a tripartite party in the Barcelona Council should not be confused with the prospects of alliances that Aragonès is showing to support the last year of his term. “There are things that coincide in time,” summarized ERC spokeswoman Raquel Sans this Monday.
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Salvador Illa, leader of the PSC, explained this Monday that the Socialists want the Catalan budgets to be approved in 2024, as happened last year thanks to an agreement between ERC, the PSC and the Lower House. Illa sets the condition that Aragonès respects the agreements agreed last year or at least provides explanations as to why they cannot be respected. The main obstacles in the bills at that time were the expansion of Ronda Nord, the study commission for the expansion of the airport – already released – and the release of the Hard Rock casino complex in Salou, which is still awaiting the approval of the urban master plan. . “We want there to be budgets and it depends on ERC and Aragonès doing what they have to do,” demands Illa.
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